The actuation of a closure element of a motor vehicle by means of the contactless detection of operating occurrences has been implemented to an increasing extent in middle-class and luxury-class vehicles in recent years. In this case, special significance is attributed to the operating situation in which the operator of the motor vehicle does not have a free hand in order to actuate an electronic vehicle key or the like. This is the case, for example, when the operator would like to load a bulky object into the motor vehicle.
In the known control system (DE 10 2013 114 883 A1), on which the disclosure is based, the contactless detection of an operating occurrence is provided in the form of an operator movement cycle, namely a foot movement of the operator. For this purpose, a capacitively measuring distance sensor is situated in the bumper of the motor vehicle and is suitably monitored by a control arrangement. Upon detection of the operating occurrence, the tailgate of the cargo compartment device located there is displaced in the opening direction by a motor. It is therefore possible for the operator to open and, optionally, close the tailgate without the use of his/her hands.
In the known control system, only one part of the cargo compartment device, namely the tailgate, is designed to be displaceable with the aid of a motor. Other components of the cargo compartment device, for example a cargo compartment floor, a rear seat bench, a through-load opening, or the like, are regularly manually displaceable.
The increase in operator comfort achievable by way of the hands-free operation of the known control system meets its limits in situations in which particularly bulky objects must be transported, wherein the cargo compartment must be expanded in order to load such particularly bulky objects. In this case, manual interventions are regularly required, in particular in order to fold over the backrest of a rear seat row, or the like. The user cannot avoid setting down the bulky object to be loaded in order to expand the cargo compartment. This, in turn, is associated with a reduction in operator comfort.